The tragedy of children with lifelong illnesses from incestuous marriages

Hospital is home

On the last day of May, just after returning from the fields, Ms. Lo Thi H. (25 years old, Ngoc Lam commune, Thanh Chuong district) had to rush to catch a bus to travel nearly 100 km to Vinh city to take care of her child. For many months, her 8-year-old son has been treated at the Department of Gastroenterology - Hematology (Nghe An Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital) for congenital hemolytic disease, also known as Thalassemia. This is a disease that often appears in children born from incestuous marriages.

Carrying the cold porridge lunch box after a long journey, as soon as she entered the hospital room, Ms. H. carefully fed her silly son spoon by spoon. Although he was old, her son still could not read and write, Ms. H. had not sent him to school yet. "He is this big but his mind is still like a 3-year-old child. He cannot go to school with his friends," Ms. H. said sadly.

Dan Lai ethnic group in Mon Son commune, where many cases of incestuous marriage occur. Photo: Tien Hung

Seeing his wife arrive, her husband, Mr. Lo Van Th. (26 years old), packed his clothes and put them in his backpack to return to his hometown. The couple has no jobs and only makes a living from farming. It is harvest season, so Ms. H. and her husband have to take turns going to the hospital to take care of their child. "Today the wife is on duty at the hospital, tomorrow the husband is on duty, and we don't know when it will be," Mr. Th. said. Since their son was hospitalized, all the valuable assets in the house have gradually "gone away". Not daring to eat out for fear of spending money, the couple often cooks food at home and takes it with them. Family meals right in the hospital yard have therefore become familiar to Ms. H.

"Today the wife is on duty at the hospital, tomorrow the husband is on duty, and it will continue like this for who knows how long."

Mr. Lo Van Th. (26 years old) Ngoc Lam commune, Thanh Chuong district

However, Ms. H. and her husband still have a bigger worry. Recently, their 6-year-old daughter has also shown signs of "abnormality" like her brother. "We will probably take her to the hospital soon after the season is over. It's really tragic," Ms. H. said, adding that when she took her son to the hospital and heard the doctor's words, she learned about this disease. And this is also the first time that the couple learned that their son's illness was due to their parents sharing the same bloodline.

Originally from Ban Ve Lake, before she could even learn how to read and write, Ms. H. left to follow her mother to the fields. Not long after, like other girls her age, Ms. H. got married to a man in the village. It is worth mentioning that they both had the same great-grandfather. "We thought that after 3 generations, we would be able to get married, no problem. Because up here, there are many cases where the son of a brother married the daughter of a sister," said the woman with a haggard face.

We thought that after 3 generations, we would be able to get married, no problem. Because up here, there are many cases where your son married your daughter.

Ms. Lo Thi H. (25 years old, Ngoc Lam commune, Thanh Chuong district)

Because of that thought, when their children were born one after another with abnormal signs, the couple did not think that it was the result of incestuous marriage. It was not until their son grew up and became more and more abnormal like his friends that the couple took him to Vinh City for a checkup.

In the same hospital room with Ms. H. is the couple Xeo Thi T. (22 years old, Bao Thang commune, Ky Son). 5 years ago, Ms. T. married her cousin because her parents did not want to marry their daughter far away. Then, the couple's 2 children also had the same congenital hemolytic disease, and were sick all day long.

Lifelong treatment

According to Dr. Tran Van Cuong - Deputy Director of Nghe An Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital, patients treated at the Department of Gastroenterology - Hematology, consanguineous marriage creates recessive disease genes in the husband and wife that combine to create deformed children or genetic diseases such as color blindness, albinism, ichthyosis, mental illness, especially congenital hemolytic anemia Thalassemia.

Due to living in isolation in the forest, incestuous marriage often occurs in Bung village, Mon Son commune, Con Cuong district. Photo: Document

Thalassemia is a blood disease caused by hemolysis. There is currently no cure for the disease, mainly symptomatic treatment, lifelong treatment. Therefore, Thalassemia patients are a burden for their families and society. The rate of people with Thalassemia is often very high in mountainous areas and ethnic minorities because the rate of consanguineous marriage in these areas is often high, so genetic factors are also higher. This is a genetic disease, so if both parents carry the same disease gene at each birth, the child will have a 50% chance of having the disease, 25% will have a serious illness.

All characteristics of the body are determined by genes, there are disease genes that remember a disease characteristic and pass the disease on to the next generations. Each person's body has about 500-600 thousand genes, among which inevitably there are some disease-causing genes but have not yet created the manifestation of the disease. These are recessive disease-causing genes, which persist in some people of the family from generation to generation. If the marriage is conducted with someone from a different family, the risk of disease manifestation is usually not high. On the contrary, people of the same family marrying each other is a favorable condition for similar recessive disease-causing genes to combine with each other, which can cause disease manifestation. The consequence is the birth of sick or genetically deformed children.

Incestuous marriage not only fails to preserve the wealth of the clans, does not maintain and develop the nation but also causes racial degeneration, reducing the number of people of the nation due to higher mortality rates.

“The consequences of incestuous marriage are that children are prone to genetic defects/diseases; poor height/weight development; poor intellectual development; In the long term, it even affects the height/weight of the family line; affects national ethics/culture.

Doctor Tran Van Cuong - Deputy Director of Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital

According to the reported data of the three districts of Ky Son, Tuong Duong, and Con Cuong, from 2015 to 2018, in these three localities there were a total of 713 child marriage couples; of which 192 were girls under 16 years old. There were more than 30 consanguineous marriage couples. However, this number still does not reflect the reality at the grassroots level, because the investigation has not been carried out systematically, and on the other hand, people also want to hide it. Some localities have many cases of consanguineous marriage, such as Dan Lai village in Con Cuong district.